A Life On The Line
by Pendragon22
Summary: Joel and Ellie's routine hunting trip suddenly turns awry.


"_..ole?_" a soft voice spoke. "_Joel, c'mon wake up_."

Joel was in the space between consciousness and unconsciousness. He knew a voice was beckoning him to wake up, but his eyelids felt like lead curtains. The foggy blanket of sleep refused to let him open them.

_Just a few more minutes_ he thought.

"Seriously, get up!" The voice was more forceful now and two hands clutched his shoulders.

Finally, with great effort, Joel opened his eyes, immediately squinting when the morning light assaulted them. When his eyes finally adjusted, he found himself looking into the spring green eyes of Ellie, who was smiling triumphantly.

"Ah! Finally. I thought you'd never get up," She said with relief.

"And good morning to you too," Joel said through a yawn. "Now, would care to explain why you're waking me at this hour?"

Ellie narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't tell you've forgotten."

Joel's silence that followed answered Ellie's statement.

"Ugh, of course. We're going hunting today and you told me to up and ready to go early. I've been up for 3 hours while you're still lying in bed like a princess," Ellie explained.

_Oh shit_ Joel thought.

He threw back his covers and rolled out of bed, feeling a little more stiff than usual.

"Alright, I'll get ready and we'll be out the door in less than 20 minutes, okay?"

Ellie nodded. "I'll be waiting for you downstairs."

With a smile, she turned on a heel and left Joel alone in his room to change and prepare for the day's events.

A couple of minutes later, Joel had everything he needed for the hunt. Although they usually used bow and arrows to avoid making too much noise in the woods, Joel cached a pistol in his pack. Just in case. He trotted downstairs and met up with Ellie, who was lounging on the couch, twirling her pony tail through her fingers.

"Alright, _princess_," Joel teased. "Let's go."

"Oh _ha, ha _Joel," Ellie rolled her eyes while following him out the door.

They'd been at Tommy's settlement for only about 2 weeks now, but the people had already welcomed them with open arms and trust. Tommy was grateful to have Joel and Ellie back. He set them up with housing immediately and promised them life here was almost like it was before the infection broke out. Almost.

Tommy met them at the gates just to check over their equipment and make sure they had everything to stay safe.

"Okay, you're set. Be careful," Tommy warned.

Joel smirked. "Is that a trick question?"

Tommy chuckled at his brother's comment before jokingly punching his arm.

"Get out of here then. And don't return unless you kill a whole herd of deer," Tommy said.

It was Joel's turn to laugh now. "That's child's play baby brother. See ya in a few hours."

The gates opened and Joel and Ellie ventured out, heading into the shaded woods. Once deep enough in, Joel armed his bow and took point. Ellie armed her bow as well, covering the rear.

* * *

><p>The summer heat was particularly brutal today. The heat from the sun beat down on them, warming their skin to the point where sweat dripped off their faces like a leaky faucet.<p>

Joel felt more sympathetic to Ellie, who wore a white long-sleeved shirt and jeans. Not exactly the best combination of clothing to wear in the hot months of summer. He also noticed that lately she was wearing a pendant around her neck. But not just any pendant, a _firefly_ pendant. He'd seen her wear it before. The named inscribed on the cool metal read _Riley Abel_. Joel remembered when Ellie had mentioned her, the best friend that had gotten bit as well. Throughout their trek in the forest, he caught Ellie touching the pendant endearingly more than once.

A few hours had already passed, and so far they hadn't killed a single animal. Mostly because they hadn't seen any yet.

"How much longer, Joel?" Ellie huffed her complaint. "I think the forest animals aren't coming out today."

"Well Tommy said we can't return without killing an entire herd of deer," Joel reminded.

Ellie stopped in her tracks and regarded him with serious face.

"You're fucking with me, right?"

Joel chuckled. "Of course I am. But it would be nice to bring at least something back. And watch your language, Ellie. It's not ladylike," Joel said.

"Ladylike? You must be thinking of someone else," Ellie teased.

"Or just ease up on it at least," Joel suggested.

Ellie scoffed but smiled at his comment. "Whatever, old man."

Despite the heat and the lack of wildlife on this particular day, Joel and Ellie carried on, keeping quiet and keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of movement. A tree branch cracked and Joel spun his head looking for the culprit. He passed a look at Ellie who shook her head. _Not me._

Joel crouched low to the ground, Ellie doing the same. They pressed up against some rocks and kept still, listening, waiting. Even their breathing seemed to be muted.

Suddenly, another branch cracked and some leaves rustled. It sounded close. Joel looked at Ellie and put a finger to his lips, signaling her to stay quiet. She nodded quickly in compliance. Joel proceeded to slowly peeped his head over the rock. He expected to see a deer, lazily grazing on some moss or leaves but instead saw a group of 4 maybe 5 hunters.

And they were coming towards them.

Joel ducked back down behind the rocks. Ellie gave him a worried look. She was also catching on that something wasn't right. Joel mouthed the words 'hunter' to her the best he could. Luckily, she understood and nodded once again.

"_We need to get out of here. Stay right on my heels, yeah?_" Joel whispered to her.

"_Always do. Lead the way,"_ Ellie responded in a low voice.

Still crouched low to the ground, Joel began backing away from the rocks slowly, hoping the overgrown forest shrubbery would keep him concealed. He was more worried about Ellie though. While the shrubbery surrounded most of her small frame, her white shirt could easily be spotted if she wasn't careful.

Suddenly a voice rang out, causing Joel and Ellie to freeze in their tracks.

"We know you're here!" a man yelled angrily. "Don't try to run away, we'll find you!"

"_Dammit," _Joel muttered under his breath. This wasn't what he had in mind. He knew very well he and Ellie could take on the hunters, but he preferred not to waste his precious arrows or ammo from his gun on a couple of assholes.

"_What do we do?" _Ellie asked, moving closer to Joel.

Joel sighed and glanced around. The hunters were only a few meters away, give or take. They'd be on them soon enough. Looking down, Joel felt around for something he could use to throw at one of them. His hand quickly came in contact with a sizable rock. Weighing it in his hand, Joel figured if he threw it with enough force it would make somebody stumble which would be the perfect opportunity to kill them while they were off guard.

Joel turned back to Ellie, who was starting to look nervous.

"_Alright, I'm gonna throw this at one of 'em," _Joel gestured to the rock in his hand. _"You are gonna have an arrow loaded so as soon as I throw this, you let it fly. Hopefully it'll be quite enough that they won't hear it."_

"_Okay. Let's do it," _Ellie agreed.

Joel slowly started backing up, keeping his eyes on the chosen target. There were four of them and they'd taken up splitting into two's. One of them though, had strayed a little too far away from his partner. Joel pointed to the one in his sights. Ellie nodded, understanding that was the one they were targeting. Joel aimed the rock at the man's head, waiting for just the right moment before he chucked it.

"Agh, holy shit!" the hunter reacted by grabbing the side of his face that had been hit.

In the next moment, Ellie had fired one of her arrows. It sailed through the air gracefully and quietly and then lodged itself into the head of the hunter. He went still for a seconds before his body crumpled to the ground.

"I see you!" the partner to the now dead hunter had caught sight of Ellie.

"Ah, shit. He saw me. This was a bad day to wear white," Ellie gasped.

"Don't worry about it. We'll take 'em down the way we always do; Together," Joel said.

Ellie nodded and smiled briefly. "Okay."

Bow and arrow in hand, Joel rose up and fired an arrow at the approaching hunter. It pierced him squarely in his chest. He swayed momentarily and then collapsed like the other one. Two on two now. Joel knew the odds were in their favour. The last two would be simple kills and then he and Ellie could continue their hunt. Joel switched to his pistol, not wanting to waste anymore arrows than he had too.

"Okay, we're gonna rush these guys and take them out before they know what hit them," Joel said.

"Are you sure? That seems kinda risky," Ellie pointed out.

"I know, but we don't have many arrows and we need those for the wildlife. Trust me on this. We'll be fine," Joel reasoned.

Ellie didn't looked convinced but she nodded reluctantly anyway, following Joel's lead to the last two hunters. They continued to stay low to the ground, quietly stalking their way around the hunters. Soon enough, they were behind them. Ellie had taken the time to put away her arrows and take her switchblade. Joel started moving towards his target while Ellie branched off to hers. Coming up behind his, Joel grabbed the hunter in a choke hold and started wrestling his gun out of his hands.

As Joel wrestled him to the ground, he caught sight of Ellie charging the last hunter. He fired his gun at her but it seemed he missed as Ellie kept going and drove her switchblade into his neck and chest repeatedly. Joel managed to kill his hunter by asphyxiation, saving some ammo.

"Phew, okay that wasn't as bad as I thought," Joel spoke while rifling through the hunters pockets for anything useful.

When he didn't turn up with anything, he stood and stretched, still feeling stiff from earlier that morning.

"You okay Ellie?" Joel asked.

No response.

Turning, Joel faced her and asked again.

"Ellie, are you ok-" Joel stopped when his eyes fell upon Ellie's state.

She was standing over the hunter she'd killed, her hand clutching the side of her waist. She brought her head up to look at Joel. Her eyes were filled with horror and worry.

"_Joel…" _She gasped.

Removing her hand from her waist, Joel saw the little red stain on her white shirt that began blossoming out over her like a flower. He saw the red on her hand that gleamed in the sunlight. Blood. Her blood. The hunter, when he'd fired his gun, he had hit her.

It took a few seconds for the realization to hit Joel. Ellie had been shot. Ellie had _been_ shot.

"_Joel," _Ellie choked his name out one last time before the colour seemed to evaporate from her face and she started swaying. Joel caught her just before she slumped over.

_No. No, no, no, no _Joel thought. _Not like this._

Joel pressed his hands against Ellie's wound, hoping the pressure would slow down the bleeding. He mind violently reminded him of a memory that happened 20 years ago, one that still haunted his dreams.

_He is back in Texas, pressing his hands against his daughter's abdomen, trying to stop the bleeding. He lifts Sarah's head closer, getting ready to pick her up and carry her somewhere where she can get medical attention when suddenly…she stops breathing. Her tear streaked face and tired eyes stare back into Joel's. Unblinking, unmoving, devoid of life. His daughter took her last breath in his arms. Tears begin to runs down Joel's face as he pulls her close and begs her, pleads to her to come back._

_Don't do this to me, baby girl._

Joel shakes his head, bringing himself back to the present, where Ellie lays in his arms, slowly dying from her injury with each passing second. She's begun breathing heavily and hot tears have started streaking down her colourless face.

"Hey, hey, stay with me Ellie. You're gonna be fine. I'm gonna get you back to Tommy's and they're gonna fix you. I promise," Joel said voice shaky.

Ellie tried to respond but she choked on her tongue and sputtered a cough. She moaned and placed her hand on top of Joel's. Quickly, Joel removed his hands from Ellie's waist to rummage through his backpack. There he had a medium-sized roll of medical cloth to wrap around Ellie's wound.

"Okay, baby girl, I'm gonna pick you up and wrap this around the wound," Joel spoke in a hushed voice.

Ellie gave her best nod. Joel slowly raised her up so he wrap the medical cloth around her. He pulled it tight and tied off the best he could before he lifted Ellie off the ground, cradling her in his arms. Her head rested heavy against his chest. Not bothering to check if he'd forgotten anything, Joel took off, jogging back the way they'd come from.

"Hang in there, Ellie. C'mon, don't close your eyes," Joel warned.

Ellie coughed again and fluttered her eyelids.

"_It just hurts so much. Closing my eyes makes the pains…stop,"_ Ellie spoke in raspy voice.

"I know it hurts, baby girl, but you have to keep your eyes open. Don't close them, please. Just…keep them open no matter what," Joel begged.

Ellie didn't respond but she seemed to have understood as she continued to flutter her eyelids in attempt to keep them open. Joel kept glancing back and forth between the forest to make sure he was still on track and Ellie to make sure she hadn't given out on him. He hoped by the time he made it back to the settlement it wasn't too late.

* * *

><p>Through a clearing in the trees, Joel could see the settlement. He picked speed, desperate to get Ellie the medical attention she needed. Upon reaching the gates, Joel caught sight of his brother in one of the watch towers. He too knew something was up and had the gates opened pronto. Joel rushed through, greeting Tommy on the other side.<p>

"She...she was shot. Needs attention," Joel spoke through panicked and laboured breaths.

Ellie had started to have spasms on the way back to the settlement, the muscles in all of her limbs trembling and twitching in reaction to the blood she was losing. The bleeding had definitely slowed down since Joel bandaged her, but that wouldn't save her life.

"Alright, follow me. We have people trained in saving lives. They're not professional but they're all we got," Tommy spoke while leading Joel.

"It don't matter about being professional, they just need to save her. I...I can't lose her," Joel said truthfully.

"She'll make it," Tommy assured.

They arrived in a small room that smelled vaguely of antiseptic and other chemicals. There were a few injured people resting on cots that lined the bare walls. Two people with masks covering their mouths checked in on them. Joel assumed they were the medical staff.

"Hey, we got an emergency here," Tommy called out to the masked people.

They turned and went wide-eyed when they saw Joel carrying a barely conscious Ellie who was still bleeding and trembling in his arms. The medical staff swiftly came over, taking Ellie from Joel's arms and whisking her away to a back room without a word. Joel stared down into his now empty arms that were coated in Ellie's blood. He shivered at the sudden thought of her not making it. There was just _so_ much.

A firm hand resting on his shoulder drew him back into reality. Tommy was looking at him sympathetically.

"You should get cleaned up and then you can wait in here until they're done," Tommy said.

"Alright," Joel answered in a shaky voice. He took one last look toward to door where Ellie had be taken to before following Tommy to a place where he could wash up.

Tommy left Joel in a small bathroom not far from the place he'd left Ellie at. Since returning to the settlement, Tommy and his boys had surprisingly managed to get the plumbing working. The water pouring out the sink's faucet was scalding hot but Joel didn't seem to care as he scrubbed his arms and hands vigorously. The clear water washed away red down the drain. He couldn't get his mind off Ellie. He was worried, scared. What if she needed surgery? Surely Tommy didn't have the equipment for that. What if she had lost too much blood? Could they give her donated blood? No, that would mean finding out her blood type. There's no way they had equipment for that either.

Joel clutched the edge of the sink, knuckles white, watching the water swirl down the drain. His mind couldn't stop running all the possible scenarios and outcomes of Ellie's fate. None of them ended happily. He turned the tap from scalding hot to ice-cold. He cupped his hands beneath the frigid stream and splashed his face with it multiple times, trying to calm down. He flicked off the tap, dried his face with a dingy towel and stormed out the bathroom; back to room filled with cot's to wait for Ellie. He sat on the edge of one, back hunched, arms resting on his knees. He tapped his foot on the floor rhythmically, waiting and praying that the doctors would bring Ellie out alive and well.

* * *

><p>5 minutes. 10 minutes. 20 minutes. Joel counted off the seconds of every minute to the subtle beat of his heart. Tommy had come back to check in on him but Joel didn't answer his brother's questions or concerns. He didn't even look at him. All he wanted to do was wait and pray. But finally, after what felt like an eternity, the back door in the cot room open up, revealing the same doctors who'd taken Ellie away. They toted her out on a sturdy stretcher, carrying her over to Joel. He rose up from the bed his was sitting on silently and watched the doctor's lower Ellie onto the cot, covering her with a thin blanket. Joel spoke a soft thanks to them before lowering himself to Ellie's level. The doctors nodded and left the room, quiet as mice.<p>

She was still unconscious but she looked much better than she had before getting medical attention. The colour had returned to her face and she was no longer trembling. He noticed she didn't have her white shirt on anymore. It had been replaced with a drab gray one. Her firefly pendant – Riley's pendant – was luckily still strung around her neck. Good. Joel was worried she may have lost it in the fight. He pulled the blanket back and tenderly rolled up the base of her shirt. Her wound had been stitched up with a few sutures. It was fairly reminiscent of the injury he had sustained back at UEC. The skin surrounding the sutures was purple and red, bruising. It also looked slightly swollen but not too much to have an infection risk. It appeared Ellie would make a full recovery. A wave of relief washed over Joel and he took hold of her hand gently, smiling down at her.

The sun had started to set, turning the summer sky from a baby blue to a concoction of purples, pinks and oranges. Joel hadn't left Ellie's side since the doctors brought her out. He wanted to be the first thing she saw when she woke up.

"Hmm…" Ellie stirred in her slumber.

"Ellie? It's okay, you can wake up," Joel spoke softly.

Ellie scrunched her closed eyes and moaned; most likely she was starting to feel some pain from her injury. Her grip tightened around Joel's hand. He squeezed back reassuringly. She rolled her head around a few times as if fighting her way back into consciousness. Then suddenly her eyes shot open. She blinked rapidly a few times before turning her head towards Joel.

"Joel? Wha…what happened?" Her voice was still a bit raspy and sounded tired too.

"You were shot," Joel said bluntly.

Ellie eyes went wide with shock. "_What?_ Oh, agh that fucking hurts."

Her hand flew to her side and rested gently on top of the wound. She lifted her shirt carefully, peaking at the damage she sustained.

"Oh my god! I don't remember getting shot. I just remember collapsing in your arms after I killed that hunter," Ellie sounded oddly excited.

Joel arched a brow, curious about her exhilarated tone. "You sound excited."

"Yeah so?" Ellie wondered.

Joel shrugged and squeezed her hand again.

"I just figured you'd be more…thankful and happy that you're alive," Joel answered.

"Oh, believe me I am. I'm grateful you brought me back here so I could get treatment," Ellie spoke sincerely and smiled when Joel did.

"But, hey, look at this!" Ellie motioned to her healing gunshot wound. "This is gonna leave a pretty bad ass scar!"

Joel couldn't stop himself from chuckling at her comment.

"That it will baby girl. That it will."

* * *

><p><strong>Authour's Note:<strong> And that's the end! Just a little one-shot that was floating around in my mind for quite some time. I actually thoroughly enjoyed writing this and I hope you, dear readers enjoyed it as well. Please leave a review or a favourite. I always appreciate it :)


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